Email Marketing - How to Grow Your Email Li Overcoming Sales PhobiaIf you’re like most business owners and self employed professionals you started a business because you have a particular talent, skill, or ability; not because you like to sell. And although some sales people do start companies, most business owners have no experience or training in sales.Let’s face it, no-one likes hearing the word no. The mere mention of the word sales conjures up all kinds of negative images like the ubiquitous used car salesman or the bait and switch tactics that television news shows are so fond of featuring. With all of these negative images around, it's no wonder that so many people don’t like selling.You may be naturally shy or lack self confidence. Or perhaps you never learned how to speak about your business in a way that compels people to buy from you. Regardless of the reason, if you run a business or work for yourself you’ll find it much easier to be successful if you sharpen your sales skills and get comfortable in this role.If the situation I’m describing rings a bell, here are some steps you can take to turn your fears into success:1. Get clear on your market positioning.
What does your company stand for in the eyes of your prospects? What makes you different? Who’s your ideal client? What “pain” or problem do your customers have that your product or service solves? Once you’re clear about the benefits an
Do you have a list of e-mail addresses of your customers or prospects? Do you have a list of e-zine subscribers? If you have their permission, send them an e-mail survey to conduct market research. See if customers are satisfied with your products or services, or see if they enjoyed their visit at your web site.
You can learn things you didn't know about your business by surveying. Maybe your customers buy your main product just to get the free gifts. Your visitors may think it's to hard to navigate through your web site. You may find out that most of your customers make over $100,000 a year. By knowing this type of important information you can improve your web site, products/services, advertising, and marketing.
3 Popular Types Online Business Surveys
Customer Satisfaction Surveys - what did you like or dislike about our product or service, what can we improve or add, how satisfied are you with our customer service, etc.
Web Site Feedback Surveys - did you find it to easy navigate through our site, did you find the information you wanted, what did you like or dislike about the site, how did you find our site, etc.
Demographic Surveys - what's your gender, age, income, occupation, marital status, etc.
Sometimes people don't want to take the time to fill out a survey. To encourage them to fill out the survey offer them a freebie if they fill it out. Some ideas are free ebooks, free advertising, free reports, free internet services or a free e-zine. Hold a free online contest or sweepstakes and ask visitors to fill out a survey before they enter.
If you don't yet have an e-mail address list you could post your survey on appropriate newsgroups, forums and e-mail discussion lists. You could also upload survey software to your web site or use a free survey service on the internet. To find such services just type in the keyword "survey" in your search engine of choice.